House

A couple of years ago I bought my first house. It’s a nice, little, colonial home that sits on the outskirts of the city as a reminder of the areas humble beginnings. For the most part I have lived alone and have enjoyed living in such a spacious place on my own. Over the past two years I have added in many installments to bring the house into the modern age on the inside, and out. I have a brand new kitchen with sleek, chrome appliances, a two car garage attached to the western wing of the house, and best of all; it talks. Now this isn’t science fiction by any means it’s actually very simple. Years ago I had a girlfriend who’s dad had made is so their house could talk through speakers. It all ran through a computer that he had setup in the basement that constantly ran a program that was set on timing, and trigger cues. For example: every day at seven in the morning, and six at night the house would automatically announce a weather update. It would also make a clunking sound like a door closing whenever someone entered or exited through the garage, or front door. There were a bunch of other things it could do but to me those were always the most interesting.

About a year ago I decided to install speakers throughout my house and I setup an old dell in my basement that would run the program. It took me a few weeks to get everything setup and once it was all finished I was very anxious to hear it work. I ran upstairs and opened and closed the garage door that led into the house over and over to hear the imitating “clunk” sound it would make every time. I also added a feature that could tell me just how long I was out of the house by sensors that picked up when I walked out of the door and back in. I setup an alarm to wake me up for work every day at six a.m. and it would announce the day’s weather as well. I’d wake up, eat my breakfast, dress appropriately for the weather, and leave around seven. I’d work from eight until four and usually get home around five. Each day I’d walk in greeted by the “clunk” and a chime followed by the house announcing that I had been away for roughly nine and a half hours.

I got use to the daily greetings of the house quickly and found it very welcoming. It was almost like the house and I were friends. I started installing more and more little quirks to the program just so I could hear the house talk more. I’d receive traffic updates along with my morning weather, I also made it so that it said goodnight to me each night around nine. I am not completely proud of that but it gets lonely around here. I also setup a system where it would bark if someone tried to come in while the front door was locked. Things were going great with the house for a while until about a week ago when it started to act up. It started last Wednesday I believe. I was awoke by my alarm followed by my updates and everything seemed fine. But suddenly I jolted when I heard the house make its intruder barking noise. I ran downstairs and looked out the front door but no one was there and the door was locked. I shook it off, ate my breakfast and left for work. When I returned home the house greeted me by telling me how long I was gone, “nine hours,” and told me goodnight when I went to bed. A few days past and everything remained normal. Suddenly I was awoke by the barking in the middle of the night.

I ran downstairs again and turned on the porch lights to see no one there. I was somewhat frustrated and decided to turn the damn barking sounds off because it obviously wasn’t working. I stayed up the rest of the night and spent that Saturday trying to figure out why the sensor was acting up. After a while of frustrated tinkering I dropped the project and just hoped it would stop acting up. The weekend went by without any problems. The house ran baseball stats by me as I sat and read on my sofa, happily enjoying the sun shining through the window behind me. Suddenly the barking went off again. This time I was right next to the door and heard the handle jiggling. I leapt from the sofa and over to the door to find that still, no one was there. I walked outside and did a lap around the house and found nobody. I started to feel shaky and somewhat paranoid. The sound kept freaking me out and I didn’t know how I was going to fix it without shutting the whole system down which I wasn’t about to do.

The rest of the weekend went by without hearing the sound again and I went through my normal work routine Monday. I arrived home at my normal time of five thirty, but something was wrong. As soon as I walked into the house I was met with the “clunk” and the time that had passed since I had left. “Welcome home. You have been away for: one hour.” One hour? I thought nervously. How could that be possible? I was gone all day. How could I have been here an hour earlier and then left right after? Maybe the sensor had failed to pick up that I had left but I know I heard the “clunk” when I had left that morning. I was shaken but not scared. I knew that the house wouldn’t announce how long I had been gone if someone was still here so I figured I was safe. I took a deep breath and moved on from the incident. I ate dinner, listened to the weather report, and went to the bed after my daily, “goodnight.”

After a couple hours of restless sleep I finally dozed off. It wasn’t long after that I was jolted awake by a sound that I know I shouldn’t have heard at that time of night. I sat up in my bed shaking as I heard the familiar noise resonate through the house: “clunk.”

Credits: writersblok